MEPs vote for more Free Software in public sector

on: 2016-01-28

On 19 January, the European Parliament adopted
its own-initiative report "Towards a Digital Single Market"
in response to the European Commission's Digital Single Market strategy.
FSFE is glad to see that the Parliament took an affirmative attitude
and a bolder stance towards the increased use of Free Software and
its importance to digital single market.

Paragraph 110 urges the European Commission and the Council to
"increase the share of free and open source software and its reuse in and
between public administrations as a solution to increase interoperability".

Paragraph 125 calls for "the increased use of free and open source
software, particularly in educational establishments and public
administrations".

On not so positive side, the report stresses that the ability to
license standard-essntial patents under FRAND licensing terms fosters
innovation and preserves research, development and standardisation incentives despite the
well-established fact that FRAND licensing practices are harmful to Free Software.

FSFE nevertheless welcomes the adoption of the report and calls on the
Commission to follow the Parliament's recommendations to increase the
share and reuse of Free Software when pursuing the Digital Single Market
initiatives.